Back in 2010, there were a bunch on the left nursing hurt feelings over the lack of universal health care in the ACA negotiations that they decided they couldn't support the Democratic Party (looking at you, Ed Schultz) and stayed home during the midterms, thus enabling the Republican Party to get the majority and spend the rest of President Obama's term in a constant state of obstruction.
To put it mildly, it was short-sighted. To put it more accurately, it was a mind-blowingly stupid cut-your-nose-off-to-spite-your-face move, especially since that gave the Republican majority the chance to draw the new congressional districts thanks to the 2010 Census, a manipulation that has seen major damage (and lawsuits) since.
And now the 2020 Census is upon us. And the GOP, knowing that their party can't win fairly on the field of ideas, has to come up with new ways to retain their majority and electoral dominance.
Ari Berman appeared Saturday on AMJoy to discuss his new piece in Mother Jones on how dangerous their new tactics with the census could potentially be:
Budget cuts. Major cybersecurity risks. No permanent leadership. And now a question about US citizenship that could massively depress responses from immigrants. The 2020 census is facing a perfect storm of problems.
The last census, in 2010, failed to count 1.5 million people of color, while overcounting white Americans. That undercount of minorities and immigrants could get much worse under President Donald Trump and shift economic and political power to whiter and more Republican areas.
At this point, twelve states are suing the Trump administration over the citizenship question. But they're not going to stop, and they're going to keep pushing.
